Beneath the Burning Sky
by Arabellea
Summary: Her Nation in ruins, with no place left to go, she sets off on a journey to seek revenge on the boy she believes responsible. The boy she and the rest of the world think killed the Avatar. But when she gets to him, will she be able to complete her task?
1. Prologue

_The Avatar was dead._

_The news spread like wild fire._

_Killed in Ba Sing Se._

_The anger burned like wild fire._

_Taken down by Prince Zuko._

_The plan fizzled into being._

We were nothing but a small Earth Kingdom town that had dwelled right on the boarder. No one was surprised when the soldiers turned up to claim it for food and resources; we had only avoided capture thus far because we were too small and pitiful for people to care.

We saw the smoke before we saw them, billowing up into the clouds in putrid waves. We had perhaps minutes to make a decision; stand and fight, or run to Ba Sing Se as refugees. With the children crying, and the elderly bountiful, it took only a minute or so to make our decision. _Run! _Quickly, my younger sister and me gathered the urn that held my mothers ashes and ran to join my father at the front of the pack. Some people had brought food, but there wasn't enough time to gather proper supplies. A few of the leaders went ahead on ostrich horses, but there simply weren't enough for everyone to have one.

At first we ran, trying in vain to escape the sounds of the only home we had ever known being ravaged and destroyed behind us. No one could hold such a pace for very long, and soon we were walking, the little ones being supported by those with strength left. Jia, though by definition still a child, carried both a baby and a huge bundle of food. I remember feeling immensely proud of her.

We slept on the side of the path that first night, and the nights after. The earth benders would create a network of tents, and we would often stay up into the night with the rain pattering against them. Though even the strongest soon tired, and a few became ill, we held onto hope, because we were heading to Ba Sing Se, the impenetrable city, and there, everything would be better.

Soon, it was not earth that made the roof over our heads, but stone and plaster. We had entered the network of towns not yet taken, and here was the wonderful relief of being able to share stories and laughter. Some of our elderly had fallen ill, resulting in them having to leave them behind, but we had to push on, despite the pain this caused us.

We had just entered Si Wong, a town well known for its resistance against the Fire Nation, one of the only strongholds left besides our final destination. It was mostly deserted, for we were not the only ones with the hope of finding safety behind the walls, and the only people left were the fighters, the ones training to fight the fire nation. I was impressed, and humbled by the way they were using their gifts –so like mine—to fight for what they believed in. I began to train with them, and as I taught them the ways of the bow, they taught me the ways of the knife, sword, and spear. The traps I could lay were far beyond those they had seen, and their admiring made me happy in a way few things could. Everyone from my village was tired and sick, and we made the decision to stay and rest with these people for a while, to regain our strength. My father was just as in awe as I was, and I could sense a new passion growing in both of us.

I was training in the dojo with some of my new friends when the news came. Ba Sing Se had fallen. The Fire Lord had taken it through the inside, via the use of his children. But what came next were the words that would change my entire life.

_The Avatar is dead._

The Avatar had fallen. Our one liberator, so recently brought into light, was dead. A hope that had grown quickly into our savior; gone.

What was grief became anger. Who had done this? How could we avenge this?

It took not long to find the answer.

Prince Zuko, son of the Fire Lord.

We knew we had a little time before the Fire Nation, having claimed the heart of the earth kingdom, would come and take the remaining brigades. Me, my father, a few of our leaders, and then the leaders of Si Wong met and discussed our options. We were blinded by a mad fury, driven by our deep sorrow at this loss of hope. Often, I would stay up late into the middle of the night, holding my crying sister close to me. We all knew we had very little time left before we were enslaved, sent off to prison. But there was no place left to go. The Fire Nation closed in from all four sides. We might make it to a harbor, but not all of us would be able to go. Besides, some of us did not want too. I felt a deep sense of anger of being kicked from my home, and in my anger I focused in on the one individual I sensed responsible for this; Prince Zuko. In hindsight, I realize this was unfair of me, but at the time, I was furious. And now, when I held my sister crying at night, I thought not of how to comfort her, but of revenge. My mother had been Fire Nation. I had the amber eyes. And while my hair was one or two shades lighter than what might be considered average, it was by no means a giveaway. I could pass as Fire Nation. I would pass as Fire Nation, I decided.

The days passed slowly. It had been perhaps a week since Ba Sing Se had fallen. It was only by mere luck we had not been captured yet. Perhaps all the soldiers were still focused on wiping out the final remains of the rebellion in the Capitol. I was grateful for this delay, for it gave me more time to formulate my plan. If I was going to go down, I certainly didn't plan on sitting around waiting for it to happen; rather, I would go down with a bang, or preferably not at all. And, on top of that, I would avenge the Avatar.

I would kill Prince Zuko, son of the Fire Lord, and killer of my hope.

It was only once I had formulated my strategy fully that I announced it to the village. It was met with a mixture of results, as would be expected. Those who had trained with me thought I might have a fighting chance, and thought it would be worth a shot. However, my family was a lot less understanding.

Still blinded by anger and grief, I slipped away in the middle of the night, to head towards the harbor. My hair was dark ebony black, and my traveling cloak and clothes had red accents. My bow was concealed in the folds of fabric, and a knife was strapped around my leg.

I could do this.

I would do this.

**A/N**

**So that's the end of the prologue to Beneath the Burning Sky! This is my first ATLA fic, but I've watched the show a gazillion times, so I'm pretty confident in terms of facts and stuff. However, if you notice anything, whether it be grammar or spelling mistakes, story inconsistencies, faulty fact, ect, please tell me! Finally, this writing style I used in the prologue is not going to be the same as the rest of the story.**

**Eat, Sleep, Review!  
Ari**


	2. Chapter One

Chapter 1

We trotted through the night silently, the ostrich horse and I. Tongues of shadow seemed to leap from the trees, and I hunkered down closer into the saddle, my hair whipping around my face. It still smelled of dye, an acrid smell I doubted I'd get used too.

I was heading for Lotus Harbor, a small one that the Fire Nation might have overlooked. Being so benign, it was my hope that there might be only moderate numbers of Fire Nation soldiers there, and that I might be able to slip onto a ship headed back to the Capitol. It would be a long journey, and if there was time I hoped to buy some food from some of the markets. This should have been the most fleshed out part of my plan, but, as I got farther and farther away from my family, I realized with a chilling sensation that there really was no plan at all. They had let me go, not because they thought I would succeed, but because there was no way to succeed at all. We were fish sitting in a barrel there; at least out here I might have a fighting chance. And, without the Avatar, it wasn't likely any where would remain safe for long.

It would be a long time before the grief and anger disappeared, I realized. And when that happened, I may end up regretting this decision very much.

I didn't care.

And so I rode on, into the night, every step pushing my farther and farther from the only comfort I had ever known.

The sun had just begun to rise above the trees when I heard them. Fire Nation soldiers, I assumed. The sound of heavy feet stamping at the ground, presumably komodo rhinos. Shouting. The sound of laughter. They were celebrating.

All this came from somewhere out in front of me, though the path was wide and with many forks. For all I know, they could have turned, heading off in a different direction before I even saw them. Was it worth the risk?

No. I quickly dismounted my ostrich horse, and took the pack that had previously been tied to the saddle and secured it to my back. With no bending I wouldn't be able to take more than two, and I would need a heavy amount of preparation time and the element of surprise. The trees around me, while thick, were not something I trusted I'd be able to remain unseen in while I shot, and they could easily just set the forest ablaze.

Next to the path, just into the trees, the ground dipped down a little bit. I pulled the ostrich horse in after me, and made a couple shushing noises in it's direction. It was worth a shot, right? The ostrich horse -I decided to name him Bo, to decrease further confusion- seemed to give me a look that said _really? _I patted it on the back and began moving slowly through the woods. The ground here was rockier, and now I had to watch out for both me and Bo's footing. I stumbled a couple times, each time being afraid to test my ankle in the fear that it might be hurt.

Finally, the Fire Nation soldiers drew into sight. There must have been at least six of them, all on komodo rhinos, as I'd guessed. One was shouting jovially; they looked almost drunk, and, for a second, I wondered if it might have been worth it to stay on the road. However, as one created a fireball and chucked it haphazardly at his friend, making me flinch simply from the sight of it, I was happy with my decision. There was one moment when I tripped over yet another rock, stubbing my toe and causing me to let out a small curse. I froze, glancing in my peripheral vision at the soldiers. Had they seen me? One cast a curious look into the woods, but looked away, presumably letting it be as some trick his mind was playing on him. I let my breath go, not have even realized I'd been holding it. Damn my clumsiness. I needed to be more careful.

I stayed in that one position, not wanted to risk any more rocks, until the Fire Nation soldiers were long out of sight. I then pulled Bo out of the ditch back onto the road, and remounted, once again tying the pack down. At least in the Fire Nation I might be able to pass as a civilian. Here, in a nation populated only by soldiers and there captive, I would be arrested on sight. If Lotus Harbor had been fully taken, I'd need to have some sort of lie if I was to get food. It would be a long trip to the fire Nation, as we'd have to complete the journey out of the straight, and then circle the Earth Kingdom, crossing one of the seas. Of course, once there, I'd also have to make my way to the Capitol, which would be in itself a weeks long journey. Of course, this long trip would give me plenty of thinking time to reassess my plan. Of course, it would also make me have to avoid capture for weeks on end, a difficult feat. The ship would be the trickiest part; should I pose as a cook or soldier? Or should I simply stowaway and skulk in the back passages? Skulking in itself would be easier, but also much more likely to get me caught. It would take more work to set me up as a soldier, cook, or someone serving on the boat, but if I could secure that cover, I'd secure a safe passage over.

There was a lot of thinking time as I traveled on Bo. I mulled over the options more. If the harbor was taken, which based on other assessments it would be, buying food in the open would not be an option. When I thought about it, all of the sellers might have been taken captive. It would be a new area, so I wouldn't know who was trustworthy and who to avoid. In short, there wouldn't be a way to get food before I got on that ship.

As a stowaway, feeding myself would be tricky. It would consist primarily of stealing, and I didn't have very much knowledge as to how food disposal worked on a fire nation ship, or any ship, for that matter. However, If I was a serving operative, there would be set mealtimes, chances to eat. I'd be able to hide right out in the open, you might say. So, that became my plan of actin. I would sneak on, as a cook or maid, and that job would carry me to the fire nation.

The days following passed quickly. I would ride as late into the night as possible, and then pull Bo and me off into the woods to sleep; Bo tied to a tree, and me in its leaves. The next day, we would wake early and be off again. I thought often of Jia and Dad, what they were going through right now, whether or not we'd ever be together again. The anger and grief at the loss of the Avatar kept me going, though sometimes I worried that it might fade all together, leaving me with no motivation to finish this task.

I had not packed much food to begin with, mostly dried stuff that I needed to save for the more toiling part of the journey. Instead, I shot animals, and would roast them quickly over the spit, their juices dripping down onto the saddle as I ate. Water itself presented the real problem. Sure, there were streams, but I had to boil the germs out of them, and I often felt exposed as I sat by that fire.

There were a few more run-ins with soldiers, but nothing dangerous. Like the first group I had encountered, they were all celebrating, many drunks, and no one was on the top of their game. The only issues I had were with the ones going the same direction as me; I often had to sit and wait several hours to make sure they got ahead, reminded of what I might have to face when I reached Lotus harbor.

As I got closer and closer to the harbor, the trees began to go sparser, and the smell of the ocean began to reach my nostrils. I was then reminded about how Jia had always wanted to see the ocean, and it became part of my nightly routine to look at my small locket that held small paintings of her and dad's face in them. They had been done by the village painter, a man named Bipin, a few years earlier.

Of course, with the trees beginning to disappear, hiding at night began to be a struggle. I found myself venturing farther and farther off the path each night, hiding in caves and in rock formations. I became heavily aware of the fact that I was not practicing the bow outside the infrequent hunting, and that my skills were undoubtedly growing weaker and weaker. But there was no time to practice.

It was with great relief that I found myself on the outskirts of Lotus Harbor. I had let go of Bo a few days earlier, as there were constantly people on the street now, both fire nation and earth kingdom prisoners, and I needed to skulk without hindrance. There were a great number of soldiers, but I thought nothing of it, too tired to devote any serious thought.

Arrival at Lotus Harbor, however, brought something I really hadn't planned for.

**A/N**

**Hi Everyone! That's probably the fastest update I've ever done, which really shows how excited I am about this story. Also, I leave on a two-week trip to Europe tomorrow, and I wanted to just get those week's updates done before I left. I'm very tired and hustled from all the packing right now, so I wouldn't be surprised if I come back and edit this chapter later, but the basic premise will remain the same no matter what. This chapter is till ridiculously short compared to what I'm used to, which is around 3,000 words, but this is still filler. It wasn't made very clear in the prologue, and I changed it, but no, _Anastasia is not an earth bender. _Finally, I need a beta desperately, so if you are/know someone who might be interested, please contact me!**

**See you all in 2 weeks!**

**Eat, Sleep, Review**

**Arabellea **


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